As for the sound quality, what's impressive about the ErgoFit RP-HJE120 earphones is that they actually sound decent and compare favorably with many earphones costing $25 to $30. By that I mean you get a reasonable amount of both bass and detail, and they only tend to reveal their truly budget nature on quieter, more refined tracks (jazz, acoustical material) where they're apt to have a harsher edge. They also have their limitations with bass-heavy material.

I passed them over to fellow CNET editor Matthew Moskovciak, who's usually pretty hard on headphones, and he had mostly good things to say. "Not bad," he said. "Not bad at all." He liked them with rock tracks but didn't find them quite as pleasant when listening to The Beatles, for instance.

Editor Justin Yu was equally impressed after listening to them and recommended them as a more cost-effective replacement for the stock Apple earbuds.

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The cord is thin and does have a tendency to become tangled if you stuff the earbuds in a pocket.

I don't want to raise your expectations too much, but whether you're in the habit of losing things or breaking $30 to $40 earphones (Skullcandy, I'm looking at you), or just looking for lightweight earphones to use at the gym, you should definitely give these a try.

At around $6, you don't have much to lose. If worst comes to worst and they don't fit as well as you'd hoped, you can always give them to someone else. And if you do like them, well, you might just end up getting a second pair in a different color.

Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable e-reader and e-publishing expert. He's also the author of the novels Knife Music and The Big Exit. Both titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, and Nook e-books.
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